Posted - 08/19/2011 : 05:30:51 Zajac has been reportedly operated on for an achilles tendon tear, and will miss the first month and a half of the season.

Parise is back in the line-up, however. Kovalchuk is raring to make up for last season, and Brodeur will want to reclaim some of his pride.

After last season's roller coaster, where they started off not being able to win a game, and ending it not being able to lose . . . where do they end up in the Eastern Conference?

"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug

9 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)

slozo

Posted - 08/22/2011 : 10:10:06

quote:Originally posted by Guest7752

Good question.They will probably fight for 8th in the east.After reading your three posts, Slozo - looks like you are trying to convince yourself that NJ "deserves" to be 9th or lower... so that someother team (I won't mention who) will then squeeze into 8th? New Jersey's fight for 8th spot in east might come down to the results of March 23, 2012 game.

Well, it's too bad you can't take my opinion of what the Devils will do this year at face value.

And the unnamed team you are referring to? I have a hunch that they will be in 7th or higher come playoffs.

"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug

Guest7752

Posted - 08/22/2011 : 08:34:18 Good question.They will probably fight for 8th in the east.After reading your three posts, Slozo - looks like you are trying to convince yourself that NJ "deserves" to be 9th or lower... so that someother team (I won't mention who) will then squeeze into 8th? New Jersey's fight for 8th spot in east might come down to the results of March 23, 2012 game.

slozo

Posted - 08/22/2011 : 05:55:23

quote:Originally posted by MrBoogedy

There's no doubt that missing Zajac will hurt them, but I think last year was an anomoly. I suspect that this year they will be right up in between 4th and 6th. I've always sort of seen them as the eastern version of detroit, always in the mix and always a threat.

See, for me it's different - I see it as a sign of things to come.

Brodeur was great, one of the greatest goalies of his time, and we are watching his career fade to black right now. At times, he has actually looked shaky - something he NEVER ever even hinted at before, when he was a brick wall of steadfast calm, totally unflappable. To me, this is the lynchpin of the whole team, and when they move to their decent back-up Hedberg, it becomes an ordinary team.

That, combined with what looks like an even weaker defence, means to me that no matter how good the system is, they are going to be in trouble, especially when playing from behind.

And in the end, people will cite the arrival of Kovalchuk as the problem, but really, it's an aging and eventually retiring Brodeur.

"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug

MrBoogedy

Posted - 08/21/2011 : 21:11:12 There's no doubt that missing Zajac will hurt them, but I think last year was an anomoly. I suspect that this year they will be right up in between 4th and 6th. I've always sort of seen them as the eastern version of detroit, always in the mix and always a threat.

slozo

Posted - 08/21/2011 : 04:47:20 My vote is for missing the playoffs now, with Zajac out for a month and a half.

When your top centre is out that long, you are not going to get the same kind of start . . . and we saw with quite a few teams in the Eastern Conference that a bad start can kill your chances.

I think they'll finish just out, in 9th - 11th spot.

"Take off, eh?" - Bob and Doug

semin-rules

Posted - 08/19/2011 : 22:50:39 If Parise is healthy enough and Brodeur really does step up back to his usual self and Kovy plays like a 100 million player, they can sit comfortably in 6th I bet. They will come off strong, die out a little bit but then have a great second half of the season. But we did think this last year and look what happened. Can one player (Parise) completely turn a team around from such a dismal season to playoff contenders? Those are some big shoes to fill for Parise.

Guest4312

Posted - 08/19/2011 : 07:15:44 they won't start as brutal as last year but they won't be on fire at the end of the season either.... meaning they probably finish right about the same spot as last year

Beans15

Posted - 08/19/2011 : 07:08:55 I see NJ struggling a bit this season but not as bad as last season. They are going to have their 3 coach in a year and that means a 3rd system and a 3rd set of rules from team leadership. That's never easy to adjust to. They have a nice group of forwards and a decent mix of vets and young players that will keep them competative. However, their defense is possibly the least productive(offensively) in the NHL and it seems that most of the successful teams in recent memory get some offensive support from the back end.

I think they will be a team fighting between 10th and 8th.

slozo

Posted - 08/19/2011 : 05:32:16 From Yahoo Sports:

quote:NEWARK, N.J. (AP)—With a new coach and a new outlook after missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996, the New Jersey Devils seemed like a team to watch this upcoming season.

But that optimism took a bit of a hit this week.

Center Travis Zajac(notes) underwent successful surgery in Winnipeg, Man., to repair his left Achilles tendon, general manager Lou Lamoriello confirmed on Thursday. He will miss at least a month and a half of the season to recover from the injury, which occurred during an off-ice training session in Winnipeg on Wednesday.

Zajac had 13 goals and 44 points last season, as the Devils rallied from an awful start, but still fell short of the Eastern Conference postseason for the first time in 14 seasons and 15 years.

A 6-foot-3, 195-pound forward, who has scored 58 goals the past three seasons, Zajac was a big part of new coach Pete DeBoer’s offensive philosophy, and was pegged for the top line. He may be replaced there, in the interim, by Dainius Zubrus(notes) or Patrik Elias(notes).